By; BALA MOHAMMED "We would stabilize this country, we would secure our country, we will make Nigeria peaceful. We believe time has come
By; BALA MOHAMMED
“We would stabilize this country, we would secure our country, we will make Nigeria peaceful. We believe time has come for this country to enjoy peace”. These were the words of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu when he took over from his predecessor, Major General Babagana Monguno on the June 19, 2023.
True to type, Nuhu Ribadu meant it when he swung into action to justify his appointment by the duly and democratically elected Nigerian President, Chief Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the erstwhile Governor of Lagos State, who succeeded President Muhammadu Buhari. The duo are from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Under the dynamic and exemplary security leadership of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as he is popularly being called, there have been arrests between 2023 and 2024 of 30,313 suspects, linked to crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, and banditry, with a recovery of 1,984 illegal firearms, and 23,250 rounds of ammunition, as well as the rescue of 1,581 kidnapped victims across the states of the federation.
The same period, according to findings, also witnessed the historic achievements for the control by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) when in February 2023, the centre announced the recovery of more than 10,000 small arms and light weapons from non-state actors nationwide, disarmament operations, and within a year, precisely by February 2024, the total number of retrieved weapons had increased to 20,000 firearms and over 60,000 units of ammunition.
It would also be recalled that in September, 2024, NCCSALW undertook the destruction of recovered 30,132 weapons, ranging from decommissioned and unserviceable arms to illicitly owned firearms, while the Nigerian Armed Forces recorded tremendous achievements in the three consecutive years of 2022 – 2025.
The same period witnessed military operations that neutralized more than 8,034 terrorists from various theatres of operation.
The North East, North West and North Central zones in February 2024 alone, eliminated 105 terrorists, with an arrest of over 140 during counterterrorism operations, while a total of 6,376 kidnapped victims were rescued from insurgent enclaves and bandits hideouts
Joint operations were also conducted during the year, involving the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, and local vigilante groups. Spanning from 2022 – 2024, culminating to the watchful eyes of national security adviser, the Nigerian security and intelligence agencies have recorded tremendous achievements, with the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) indicating a 65% reduction in overall crimes across the country.
There was significant decline in high-profile crimes, including kidnappings, armed robberies, and terrorist threats, through were also recorded under NSA Nuhu Ribadu in 2023, especially under the Department of State Services (DSS), particularly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja
One can continue to enumerate various other achievements within the two years tenure of Malam Nuhu Ribadu, whereas during the period under review, the Nigerian military had in addition, dismantled numerous terrorist camps and degraded operational capabilities of insurgent groups in several flashpoints, with more than 20 high-profile bandit leaders and commanders eliminated in operations.
According to an erstwhile Senator of Kaduna State and public commentator, Senator Shehu Sani, NSA Nuhu Ribadu has achieved what many of his predecessors could not, despite what he described as the hundreds of billions spent on defense and security in the past.
Senator Sani attributed the tremendous achievements recorded by NSA Ribadu’s leadership during such a short period of time, to include the neutralization of key bandit leaders, the cessation of widespread abductions of students in the north, and significant efforts to secure vital infrastructure like rail lines, as well as the decline in kidnappings along major northern highways,
At a combined convocation ceremony lecture of Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto last April, Ribadu gave the doctrine that defined his approach to solving the nation’s multifaceted security crisis, saying the way forward is unorthodox.
Ribadu told the occasion that, the solution involves implementing a strategy that merges military, political, and socio-economic initiatives, emphasizing the need for cross-border cooperation, youth empowerment, and the reinforcement of local institutions. Achieving this requires inclusive dialogue, preventive measures, and regional support to ensure security and stability.
The doctrine has driven Ribadu’s engagements with regional and community stakeholders. For instance, in the Niger Delta region, it has helped increase crude oil production by as much as 500,000 barrels per day, while in the South-East, more than 40 police stations destroyed by criminals in recent years have been rebuilt and reactivated.
Ribadu has ensured improved operations through intelligence gathering and sharing, leading to targeted actions that have resulted in the elimination of key bandit leaders—the most in one year since the banditry began.
Likewise in the North-West, many bandit leaders have been decimated, with many others arrested. Abubakar Mainok, Haruna Isiya Boderi, and Kachallah Damina are among the ISWAP kingpins neutralized in clearance operations to secure the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
The North-Central region was also not left out, as the intensity of farmer-herder clashes in that region have been reduced to the barest minimum, while the North-East, with a long endured ravaging of terror, is now seeing not only stability, but also efforts towards reconstruction and rehabilitation to restore its former glory.
The NSA Ribadu has since assumption to office in in June 2023, successfully secured the release of more than 4,600 hostages, neutralized over 9,000 terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers, arrested more than 7,000 others, with large quantities of assorted weapons and ammunition recovered
The office of Adviser Ribadu similarly held a Counter-Terrorism Summit in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism, which saw over 400 foreign delegates, when in March 2024, it convened a meeting with Northern Governors and security chiefs aimed at enhancing cooperation in combating insecurity in the region.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a well prepared and determined person, was recommended for the security advisory job based on his career history as the man who always got the job done. He was also the first non-military officer to serve as Nigeria’s National Security Adviser since the return to democracy in 1999.
One can easily see how his background as a specialized police officer, lawyer, and fearless investigator and prosecutor of financial crimes has eased him into the Office of the National Security Adviser in just one year in charge.
Ribadu confidently took charge at a time when the kidnapping economy, terrorist financing, and money laundering underscored the criminal enterprises built by terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits who have held the nation ransom
He explained that though the government has not yet reached its ultimate goal in terms of national security, the progress so far recovered under Ribadu’s leadership is promising, the holistic and pragmatic approach, which complements military efforts through enhanced coordination and intelligence sharing, clearly indicates a committed effort towards restoring order and security.
The steps, the NSA hinted, indicated a thoughtful and effective strategy aimed at comprehensively addressing Nigerian security challenges, which are in tandem with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to supporting the armed forces and encouraging inter-agency coordination in combating terrorism, criminality, and all forms of terror, ensuring the nation’s lasting stability.
And with the timeline Mr. President has now given to the security agencies in the country, combined with the acumen of the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in terms of security knowledgeability and know-how, one can confidently admit that insecurity not only in form of banditry, kidnapping for ransom or armed robbery, but any animalistic or hooliganism insecurity in our land has its days physically numbered.
DR. BALA MOHAMMED writes from Bauchi State.
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